Adam Schefter Says League Sources Believe The Packers Prefer To Move On From Aaron Rodgers
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Yesterday before the AFC and NFC Championship games took place Adam Schefter decided to drop a story about Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
Here’s what he had to say in an article put out on ESPN:
“League sources believe the franchise prefers to move on from Rodgers, just as it once did with Brett Favre. Those sources also believe that Rodgers is well aware of the Packers' feelings on the situation.”
Ever since Adam Schefter decided to drop a news story that Aaron Rodgers wanted to leave Green Bay during the 2021 off-season, prompted by his “accumulation of information” on the day of the 2021 NFL draft, many Packers fans question everything he puts out.
Schefter came out a few days after the 2021 draft and shared that he didn’t receive any new information on the day of the draft. He stated that he had heard about Rodgers frustration throughout the 2021 off-season and thought it would get out eventually. He just so happened to drop this “accumulation of information” on draft day.
I bring this up because many Packers fans are hesitant to take anything he says seriously. The thing is he is still one of the most connected reporters in the NFL. He hears things and I still think it can be insightful to see what he has to say.
Now looking at what he put out yesterday…
“League sources believe the franchise prefers to move on from Rodgers.”
Believe. Believing that the Packers want to move on from Rodgers and knowing the Packers want to move on from Rodgers are two very different things.
First off we do not know who these league sources are. I would assume they have some kind of deeper information on the Packers organization, but we don’t know this for sure. This is their opinion. I just want to get this point across because I’ve read headlines stating that the Packers prefer to move on from Rodgers as if it is a fact, and the truth is we just do not know based on what Adam Schefter put out.
Is this just noise to create headlines to talk about as we move into the off-season?
Possibly. We just don’t know.
Personally I do believe there is a good chance that the Packers want to move on from Rodgers. Yes Brian Gutekunst has stated this off-season that the Packers want Aaron Rodgers back but we really don’t know for sure. A couple weeks before Russell Wilson was traded to the Broncos Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said they had no plan to trade Russell Wilson.
Things can change very quickly.
In all likelihood if the Packers do want to move on from Rodgers Brian Gutekunst knows he needs to operate very carefully so it does not look like he is forcing Aaron out of Green Bay. The Packers gave Aaron Rodgers a massive contract last off-season and Gutekunst recently said that he made that commitment planning for Rodgers to be here for more than one year. I wouldn’t be shocked if this season made him change his mind. The Packers didn’t accomplish what the front office thought they would accomplish on both sides of the ball. This looked like a potential super bowl team before the season and the Packers didn’t make the playoffs.
Gutey could be sitting in his office in Green Bay thinking that this could be the perfect time to move on to Jordan Love.
Expectations would be much more tempered for a young QB after a season of not making the playoffs. I still think it’s much more likely the Packers trade Aaron Rodgers than Jordan Love, which I wrote about in early December. Brian Gutekunst took massive heat for deciding to draft Jordan Love in the first round. He’s held on to Love for 3 years and unless Brian Gutekunst secretly believes Jordan Love is terrible, which I don’t think he does, I would be surprised if Love doesn’t start in Green Bay at least in the next 2 years.
Another possibility is that the Packers decide to run it back one more year with Aaron Rodgers and then move to Jordan Love in 2024. The only downside to this is that you’d likely get much less draft capital if Rodgers got traded next off-season. He could also decide to retire.
Aaron Rodgers has made it very clear that he doesn’t want to come back to this team if they move on from many of the veterans and decide to “rebuild”. The question I have is this: Is Brian Gutekunst willing to keep everyone around to ensure that Aaron Rodgers returns in 2023? I’m not so sure.
If you’d like to read my writing from last week here’s what I broke down: